Minnesota Adoption Records to be Digitized.

The State of Minnesota has put out for bid a project entailing the digitizing of about 5 million pages of Minnesota adoption records. The records go back as early as the 1890s, but most will start about 1917, as that’s when the state started systematically collecting adoption records. The records run from the 1890s to the current period.

However, don’t get too excited just yet. Minnesota also has a 100-year closure of the records, so it’s not planned that any records will actually be accessible until 2017 (the 100-year anniversary). Then it looks like the digitized records for 1917, and the previous incomplete records going back into the 1890s will be open to the public.

The state figures that the 2000 reels of microfilm upon which these records currently reside can be filmed for a cost of no more than $67,500. There may be as many as 200 case files on a reel of film.

From an article in the January 14, 2013 edition of the St. Cloud Times. Thanks to ResearchBuzz for the heads-up.